Mar 1, 2011 | Writing
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam —Vo Van Toi’s high-tech laboratory clashes against its impoverished surroundings. Outside, cattle roam swampy fields and squatters sell sugarcane from wooden huts. Inside, he shows off his near-infrared spectroscopy machine, which measures...
Jan 31, 2011 | Writing
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — On the surface, it seems like any other holiday. Revelers will bedeck their homes and cities with apricot blossoms, and will wedge opulent flower mosaics through the central streets of Ho Chi Minh City. Migrant workers will visit their...
Jan 1, 2011 | Writing
SEOUL, South Korea — The ironically named de-militarized zone (DMZ) is a 160-mile long buffer of landmines, guard posts, and barbed wire between North and South Korea. It is a potent symbol of division and suffering for citizens on both sides of the peninsula. So...
Jan 1, 2011 | Writing
SEOUL, South Korea — The democratic half of the Korean peninsula is having an increasingly hard time with the whole freedom of speech thing. In an apparent effort to protect the reputation of the president and — in a common refrain — to protect the country from its...
Jan 1, 2011 | Writing
SEOUL, South Korea — For years, crystal meth has been the intoxicant of choice for North Korean drug users. They take the stimulant recreationally, or occasionally to work long hours or suppress unsatisfied appetites in the impoverished countryside. But these days,...
Nov 2, 2010 | Writing
In the late 1950s, thousands of Chinese farmers starved to death while toiling on massive irrigation projects, under orders to meet Mao Zedong’s outlandish expectations for growth. Most laborers didn’t speak up because they feared the authorities would label them...
